Atkins Nutritionals filed for bankruptcy at the beginning of August 2005 in light of a decline in the diets popularity and profits. Atkins low carbohydrate craze focused on eliminating grains, fruits and vegetables to shed weight, and embraced high-protein diets rich in meat and cheese. As the popularity of the diet grew, stores, restaurants and manufacturers bent over backwards to respond to a new weight-conscious market. Last year, at the height of the Atkins craze, approximately 9 percent of Americans were following a low-carb diet such as Atkins. Recent surveys indicate the diets popularity had fallen way down to 2 percent. Eating bottomless plates of fatty sausage, bacon and eggs while slashing whole grain, fruit and vegetable consumption defies all nutrition logic. The two-thirds of Americans who are overweight, would do well following the most effective method of healthy lifelong weight management: Eating a diet plan based on complex carbohydrates such as vegetables, fruits and whole grains, moderate in protein and relatively low in fat. It's a balance you need, not going to extremes by cutting out all carbohydrates. One of the big problems of the low-carb Atkins is that it eliminates some the most healthful foods that should be the foundation for our diets. New 2005 USDA Dietary Guidelines help Americans make better food choices and live healthier lives. The dietary guidelines stress moderation, whole grains, and fiber -- things low-carb took out. Achieving, and maintaining, a healthy body requires cutting calories gradually, listening to your own individual requirements and increasing regular physical activity. Reaching a healthy body weight is an important key to an energetic life, but equally important factors must include building balance, strength, and flexibility, stress reduction, and balanced nutrition to help prevent chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. RELAX Is your digestive tract energetically charged with tension and worry? If you are obsessed with what you can and cannot eat, worrying, or watching television news conflicts while you eat, your stress levels and digestive tract is affected. It's important to keep your thoughts clear and your body at ease while you eat. Enjoy the food you are eating, relax with company of those eating with you, or create a quiet moment alone until you are finished eating. Practice eating consciously, with joy, and with a clear mind for three days and I know your life will change. INNER WORTH On a deep level, those who use or abuse food have made a decision (perhaps an unconscious decision) that they are not worthy of being themselves. They should not express themselves powerfully, and they should not receive pleasure for themselves. Overeating often stems from basic unmet needs for excitement, play, love and genuine self-expression. Often, people have decided they are supposed to give pleasure out to others, by being nice and good, smiling sweetly, not being bold, loud, or assertive. We are raised to go along with protocol. We are brainwashed into thinking that uniformity is the key to a happy and rich life. We are supposed to look a certain way, dress in order to please others, contain our excitement. Yet to conform is to live in a state of rejection. Denial of individuality and uniqueness. Dismissal of inner power. Muted passion. Prohibiting receiving or providing the self with pleasure. Without pleasure and other self-soothing strategies, basic emotional states such as stress, anxiety, fear, tiredness, depression, anger, can receive no compassion. CREATE MORE JOY Yes, food can create moments of joy. For some its a joyful sugar rush. Others seek the calm that comes with the food triggered release of the soothing brain chemical serotonin. This is wonderful. We all want to feel more joy. No need to focus on what a bad person you were for eating. No reason to punish yourself for doing something pleasurable. What is needed are more joyful moments! Joyful experiences that are even more rewarding, more gratifying than eating. Be done with your habit of judging yourself with derogatory messages because you overate. Instead, recognize that you are merely attempting to add joy to your life. You are alerting yourself to the fact that you have outgrown your comfort circle and wish to expand yourself into life. Decide today to create a list and follow through with actions that excite you and bring more joy into your life. ACTIONS FOR HEALTH Health and happiness are not that difficult to have in one's life. It just takes some attention and some action to insure that you have as much of both as you desire. Actions that work for body, health and life: Notice what is right for you from the inside out
Eat more vegetables, fruits, whole grains
Drink lots of water
Walk
Movement of balance balance board, exercise balls, yoga, Tai-chi, etc.
Dance, exercise, play
Laugh more
Rest enough not too much, not too little
Remember the playful kid inside of you
Be kind to yourself
Feel good in everything you do
Savor every moment
Be grateful and count your blessings
Learn to receive
Recognize what you are receiving
Pursue your goals
Play up your strengths
Find your calling
Trust in a God or Spirit |
